Sunday, September 30, 2012

Umple Sheppie (Uncle Jeffie) as the twins call him, the worlds best big brother, and the only friend I've had from birth is going under the knife tomorrow for a serious back surgery. It should be fairly routine, but recovery will be slow and painful. Your prayers will be coveted.

Monday, September 24, 2012

There's this book that I'm really interested in reading entitled "Motorcycles and a Baby: Stories of a Gearheads Roadtrip to Fatherhood". The problem is it's not published yet, which brings me to the point of this post. Several weeks ago, somewhere in the blogosphere, I ran across a story by Kevin T Moore entitled "Pops Owens vs The Wolf Man", a hilarious story about an interaction between the father of a close friend and a man who had turret syndrome. Very funny!! Here is an excerpt;

“Jesus Christ, it’s hot,” I bitched to everyone in the room. The whole day had been sweltering. And now the night was too. It was odd for Culver City, a part of Los Angeles where the weather is tempered by the Pacific Ocean.

“Be quiet and have a beer,” my wife Elizabeth said handing me one as she came from the refrigerator. She took a pull from hers then plopped onto a velour sofa that had started life chartreuse green, but slowly darkened from oil stains and grinder debris.

The sofa sat in the lounge area of Caleb Owen’s shop, a two-story building dedicated to building motorcycles. The front half housed tools and bike lifts and was only one level, leaving twenty feet of open space for a hoist the previous owner used to pull car engines. The back half was separated into an upstairs loft used as a bedroom, and a downstairs lounge where we sat around a coffee table made from the window of a DC-10 airplane. Motorcycles in various stages of repair sat throughout the shop, some finding their way into the lounge to act as chairs. My son Gage ran among them chirping with excitement at the freedom to touch the bikes.

“Did I ever tell you about my dad and the wolfman?” Caleb asked Elizabeth.

“No, but now I need to hear it,” she said sitting forward and putting her beer on the table.

From a young age I loved horror movies, especially the campy old black-and-white ones from Hollywood’s Golden Age. The allure of a story with the wolfman was too strong and so I blurted, “me too,” with boyish excitement.

Caleb’s wife and her brother nodded in silent agreement. They had surely heard the story countless times, but allowed another telling for guests.

“Alright,” Caleb said looking from person to person. “It all started on a typical day. My dad had just gotten home from work and did what he always did right after walking in the house – he stripped off his clothes.”

The post included a link to Kevins blog, Bikes and Buddies . Kevin explained to me that this blog is intended to build "platform" so the publishing house will publish his book. What can we do? I'm glad you asked!! Follow the link to Bikes and Buddies. On the right hand side you'll see a button that says "Subscribe", click the link and fill in your email address. This will do two things, 1) You will receive an email notification whenever Kevin posts up a new jewel of a story for you to enjoy, 2) This will add to Kevins subscribed reader number which will in turn get his book published (So I can read it!). He is a bit over 1500 and needs 2500 to be published. It's like spit in the ocean, every little bit helps. I enjoy Kevins writing so much that I've added his blog to my blog list. He won't mind if you do the same. If you enjoy his writing as much as I do, tell a friend. Also, feel free to repost this in part or in all on your own blogs. Thanks for your help friends, and happy reading!!!

P.S. On Bikes and Buddies you will find the rest of "Pops Owens vs The Wolf Man".